


Et Nāgae Sepentipedes, Draco

by Zethsaire



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cannibalism, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Creature Fic, Dark, Domestic, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Magic, Minor Character Death, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Naga, Not Epilogue Compliant, Oral Sex, Redeemed Draco, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 09:03:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2144892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zethsaire/pseuds/Zethsaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco helped the Order of the Pheonix win the war by becoming a spy in his own household, at great personal cost to himself.  When the Dark Lord finds out, he turns Draco into something not at all human.</p>
<p>Harry loves him anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Et Nāgae Sepentipedes, Draco

**Author's Note:**

> First things first - thank you, thank you thank you to DangerousCommieSubversive, who was so kind as to beta this fic for me!! Without her I would be drowning in a sea of improper grammar.
> 
> This fic is a non-epilogue compliant AU. I think the fic speaks for itself quite well; you'll find out the back story of how this differs from movie/book canon as the fic progresses. That being said, it's fairly close to canon until about the last book (or the last movie.)
> 
> Please heed the warnings! This fic is fluffy and domestic in a disturbing creature sort of way. Draco loves Harry, and is - well, I don't know if I'd say he's a good person. He was a good person, trying to do the right thing, but he's a creature now so his morals are a bit skewed. You'll see. :3 I can say that if you don't like creature fic, this isn't for you.
> 
> Note - the major character death tag refers to canonical character deaths that are observed in this AU. No major character death happens in the fic.

**Unum**

“Draco?”

A great hiss filled the air, echoing across the ruins of Malfoy manor. _“Go away, Harry.”_

“I brought you something to eat,” Harry called. He tugged on the lead of the nervous goat he'd brought with him, trying not to concentrate too terribly much on its nervous bleating.

_“I've already eaten. I'm digesting.”_

“Who'd you eat this time?” Harry asked. It was best to keep Draco talking, or he'd slither back into his hole and never come out. He thought he saw a flash of scales in the rubble.

_“Someone who deserved it.”_

“Haven't run out of Death Eaters in the dungeon then?” Yes, that was definitely a scaled body, heavy with food, twisting through the rock and moss.

_“Not yet. Did the Ministry send you to come get them back?”_

“I don't think they much care what you do with them. Less people they have to have trials for. More room in Azkaban, and all that.”

He could hear Draco now, the slither of his stomach across the ground, the way each exhale turned into a hiss. The warmpth of his hot breath, steaming the air. If he closed his eyes and concentrated, he could even hear Draco's tongue flickering out of his mouth, tasting the air. “I bet this goat tases better than whatever you've been eating recently.”

_“You don't really want to watch me eat it do you?”_

That came from just behind him, and Harry made as if to turn to catch a look at him, and was stopped by the feel of Draco's hand on his shoulder, clawed fingernails digging in. Draco leaned forward, and hissed in his ear,  _“Don't look at me!”_

“Draco. I love you.”

_“SHUT UP!”_ Draco snarled,  _“I loved you, and I lost_ everything _for you!”_

“I haven't left you. And your mother -”

_“Don't talk about my mother!”_ Draco's speech broke off and became meaningless hissing, no longer the tones of Parseltongue that Harry could understand.

There was the sound of coils writhing, and then the goat made a horrible scream, and a crunch as Draco broke its neck with his tail. Draco pushed Harry forward and descended upon his meal, and Harry actually brought his hands up to cover his ears at the sound of saliva dripping and a throat swallowing, and the sick sound of Draco dislocating his jaw.

Some time later, Draco's hands came down over his own, and he took them away from Harry's ears.  _“Harry...”_

“You in a better mood now?”

There was a short sharp bark; Harry thought it was supposed to be a laugh.  _“As good as I ever am, I suppose. You shouldn't have come here, Harry.”_

“I wanted to see you.”

_“Did you miss me?”_

“Yes. Draco. Can I turn around, now?”

_“I don't know why you'd want to look at me.”_

“Is that a yes?”

_“I suppose.”_

Harry turned to look at his former lover. He went slowly; he'd been coming to visit every month for the last five years, and Draco had never once let Harry look at him. Draco was hissing low in his throat, but it sounded more nervous than angry. Harry kept his eyes closed until he was fully turned around, then grasped Draco's hands in his own. They were bony, the fingers long and thin and the claws wickedly sharp. He followed the fingers up to slim wrists, then on to arms that were _also_ slim, but had powerful muscle under the skin. Then to shoulders that were slumped forward, and then on to a neck that was corded with tension.

He finally dared to open his eyes and looked into Draco's face. “Draco...”

Draco turned away.  _“Don't look at me. I'm hideous.”_

His face didn't look all that different – older, sure. Older than the five years would warrant, but he wasn't hideous. His hair was long, down past his shoulders; mostly straight, tied back with a scrap of leather. There were a few twigs in it, but Draco kept it quite clean for how long his nails were. He had a nasty scar running from the line of his hair down through his left eye and across his cheekbone. It had long since healed, but Harry coudn't tell if it was there because it had been made by dark magic, or because Draco hadn't had access to dittany since his exile from the wizarding world. Draco's left eye was cloudy beneath the scar, but it reacted to the light, so Harry wasn't sure how much sight he had left in it. 

Draco's chest was smooth and relatively unmarred, with the faintest marks of _sectumsempra_ left behind. The scales started just a little above his navel, sparse at first, then thicker and thicker until they resolved into the thick coils of a serpent. There was the telltale bulge of the goat just down past his hips, and a bigger one further down that was from something Harry didn't want to think about too much, even if they'd probably deserved it. The end of the coils trailed out of sight.

“I missed you.” It was best not to lie with Draco; he'd always been sensitive about it. Even if Harry thought he still looked beautiful, Draco would never believe him, and then it'd be over, and Draco would be gone. Harry probably wouldn't get him to come back out for another six months.

_“I missed you, too.”_ But Draco still wouldn't look at him.

“Draco. Please look at me Draco.”

Draco slowly turned his head back, his good eye whirling with emotions Harry couldn't pin down. He opened his mouth, and Harry could see it was full of fangs, preventing Draco from speaking in anything but Parseltongue. His tongue was long and forked at the end, and Draco hesitated for a moment, before flexing his coils and pushing up a few inches, so he could lean down and press his hot lips to Harry's own. Harry went with it, carefully so as to not cut himself on Draco's teeth. The last thing he wanted Draco to think was that he hated him. It was the first kiss he'd had in a very long time.

_“You're beautiful, Harry.”_ Draco said, when the kiss ended.

“You're no slouch yourself,” he replied, because he couldn't leave Draco hanging from a comment like that.

_“You're a liar. But a pretty one. Come see me again in a few weeks. Bring me food, if you like.”_

“I'll be here.”

Draco was fast; faster than Harry could really follow as he slithered away back through the rubble and into a hole at the base of the crumbling north wall of the Manor. Harry stared after him for a long while before Apparating with a sharp crack.

**Duobus**

The next time Harry went to visit Draco was exactly three weeks later. This time he'd brought Draco a huge pig, fattened on the richest foods and according to the butcher it would be a rich, sweet meat. Draco had always liked pork, even if he'd never admit it among more civilized company. He was in a decently good mood; he'd had the day off work and spent it with his godson, and then had dinner with Hermione and Ron. He hadn't told them where he was going, because they'd likely have tried to talk him out of it, but they'd talked about a good many other things, like how things were going at the joke shop for Ron and George, and the latest equality bill Hermione had managed to push past the Wizengamot.

His good mood took an abrupt downturn when he Apparated into the middle of a battle. Harry had just enough time to throw up a shield charm before he was buffeted by fire, spewed from the mouth of a furious Draco. Harry rolled out of the way, had enough presence of mind to _stupefy_ the pig and put a shield charm around it, and take stock of the situation. Draco was reared up on his tail, towering nearly twenty feet in the air, breathing fire down on the ground in front of him. He was flanked by a full circle of five wizards, all hurling spells at him. As a magical creature he had a natural protection from magic, and his scales were tougher than dragon hide, but even as Harry watched a bolt of magic speared through Draco's shoulder and he screamed in pain, fire gouting out of his mouth and up into the air. The wizards hadn't noticed Harry yet.

“ _**Expelliarmus!** _ ”

The wands of all five hunters flew out of their hands and straight towards Harry, who caught them and broke them under his feet in quick, deliberate movements. Just as fast, Draco's tail flashed out and grabbed one of them, squeezing with his powerful muscles. His head went back and smoke trailed from his nostrils as he prepared to incinerate the now helpless wizards.

“No! Draco, don't!”

Draco's gaze flickered to him, and recognition warred with rage for a moment before he let the wizard go. One of the others – a woman—pulled a knife from her belt and moved to stab Draco's vulnerable belly.

“ _**Stupefy!** _ _**Incarcerous turba maxima!** _ ” The woman fell to the ground, frozen, and vines came up from the ground to immobilize the rest. Harry had been trying for ropes, but seeing as how the mass jail spell was still new and the kinks were still being worked out of it, he didn't really see much reason to complain. He hurried to Draco's side. 

The nāga had lowered himself to the ground with a moan, his right arm pressed against the deep wound in his left shoulder that was gushing bright green blood. Draco hissed when he came near, so Harry slowed, and put his hands where Draco could see them.

“I just want to look at it Draco. Please.”

_“It hurts.”_

“I know. Let me help. Please.”

Draco didn't stop hissing, but he toned it down a bit, and Harry approached him cautiously. “I'm going to clean the wound out and try to stop the bleeding, okay?”

The wound was ragged and raw, and bleeding across Draco's fingers. Harry let out a hiss himself, and concentrated. Healing magic was always the most difficult form of magic for him.  “ _**Tergeo!** _ ” That scoured the blood out of the wound, but it wouldn't last; it'd start bleeding again any second.

“ _**Concresco!** _ ” His magic fought him a little, like it always did with healing magic, but the blood started to clot. He'd worried it wouldn't take, since Draco resisted magic.

“ _**Vunera Sanentur!** _ ” Even as he cast the spell, he knew it wouldn't take. The flesh closed a little, but mostly it was just a bloody, clotting mess, and Draco still had a hole in his shoulder.

_ “You were always shit at healing, Harry.” _

“Yeah, I know. I'm sorry.”

_ “Don't be  _ sorry _.” _ Draco snapped.  _ “Get me my damn wand back.” _

“I will. I'm sorry. I was waiting. For them to give it back to you legally, I mean. But obviously people are ignoring the law and coming after you so.” Then Harry's eyes narrowed. “But you're shit at healing magic too, so it won't really help you, now will it.”

Draco snarled at him.

“Look, will you let Hermione take a look at it? She's much better at healing than me, and she technically works in my division.”

Draco seemed to think about it, his mouth twisting with pain.  _ “As long as she doesn't try to convince the house elves to leave again.” _

“No promises on that. Though seeing Binky smack her with a spoon the last time she tried to tell them all they didn't have to be a 'slave to someone else's whims anymore' was kind of hilarious.”

_ “Binky's in charge. Always has been, unless Father was about. And he's – not. Not anymore.” _

One of the hunters groaned, Draco's tail lashed out and smacked him back into unconsciousness.

“Look. I've got to turn these guys in, and maybe figure out who the hell hired them to take you out. It can't be an official order; they would have had to go through my office.”

Draco's distrusting snort told Harry what he thought of that.

“I brought you dinner.” He pointed to the pig, squealing in fear, but still safe behind the shield charm. “So why don't you eat and rest, and I'll bring Hermione by first thing in the morning.”

_ “You brought me a pig.” _

Harry smirked. “Don't pretend you aren't pleased.” He reached forward and gave Draco a careful kiss, and kicked the hunter who made a disgusted noise in the groin.

A quick  _ levicorpus _ pulled all the hunters up off the ground and towards Harry, and he yanked all of them along with him in a rough side-along. He wasn't particularly careful about making sure they didn't get splinched.

** Tribus **

The next morning found Draco asleep deep in his lair, five distinct lumps along his length that Harry thought Draco probably wished were his attackers, instead of four former Death Eaters and a pig. Harry wavered between horror at the devoured bodies and pride that his pig made the largest lump, and had been eaten last, and eventually landed somewhere between the two.  Hermione was absolutely silent behind him, besides her occasional sharp intake of breath as they followed Binky through the ruins.

Malfoy Manor was only ruined on the outside; Draco must have forbade the house elves from fixing it up. Inside it was cool and a little damp, and moss grew up the walls and across broken furniture and overturned tables. Vines crawled up smashed statues and faded paintings. But the sun broke through the holes in the ceiling and shed light over bookshelves still filled with books in pristine condition and obviously behind some kind of protective charm, and there wasn't a speck of dust in the place. If Harry was an artist, he might have even said that the rubble had been arranged in a tasteful pattern inside the house. There certainly seemed to be a path through it, but that could have just been worn down from Draco passing back and forth. In any case, Binky seemed to be quite proud of it. She was almost certainly insane, as well, but she seemed happy, wearing a dress made from a deeply embroidered doily, so Harry wasn't about to say anything about it.

“Master Draco is being getting up now. He is having visitors.” Her voice carried across the hall and into what could only be called a dragon's lair, a pit lined with gold and precious stones, what must have been the entirety of the Malfoy vaults settled within, with charcoal marks seared across the walls from an errant flame, and heat rising from the pile of coils that was Draco. This was the first time he'd really seen all of Draco's length at once. Harry noted, with the back of his mind that was  _ not _ freaking out, that Draco must have been over fifty feet long.

Draco's length shifted, and finally a pale torso rose from among the black scales. A very rough, almost incomprehensible, “Thank you Binky, you can go,” came from Draco's lips, before he rose up on his tail so that his eyes were level with Harry's from where he stood at the edge. Draco was paler than usual, and he his shoulder was carefully bandaged.

_ “Harry. You came.” _

“I said I would, didn't I? I brought Hermione. Can she look at your shoulder?”

Draco turned his serpent’s eyes on Hermione, and to her credit, she didn't flinch.  _ “Very well then, Granger. Or should I say Weasley now? You'll have to forgive me, I don't often get to view the paper.” _ Draco made a humorless sound that might have been laughter.

“Yes, she married Ron. They've got a little girl too, Rose. I'm her godfather.” Harry told him, hoping to break some of the tension.

He turned to Hermione, since he was going to have to act as translator here. “He says you can look at it. I don't know what spell was used; it looked like a spear made of light, and it cut right through him when everything else bounced off.”

Hermione visibly pulled herself together, and launched into a magical analysis, most likely to help herself stay calm. “Well, if he's anything like a born nāga, his scales will be practically invincible. Though with the fire and the hoard, it seems more like he's a dragon/nāga hybrid. Dragon's hide isn't impervious to all magic, though it's very sturdy, and generally resistant to heat. But the same protections wouldn't extend to his unscaled skin, I wouldn't think. They must have thought the same.”

She spoke to Draco like he could understand her, which was good, because he could, even if she couldn't understand him. She removed the bandage carefully, and Harry winced at the angry wound underneath. House elves could cure any number of wounds, but injuries caused by magic were tricky, and it looked like they hadn't tried to do anything except wrap it.

“This doesn't look healed at all. What did you try, Harry?”

“Um.  _ Tergeo, concresco,  _ and _ vunera sanentur. _ ”

“Oh Harry.  _ Vunera sanentur _ was created specifically by Snape as a countercurse to  _ sectumsempra.  _ It's not going to work on any old wound.”

“Well, he was bleeding rather profusely at the time, Hermione. I didn't have time to look up a spell in a book.”

Hermione sniffed.

_ “I think you just hurt her feelings, Harry. Tsk tsk.” _

“Quiet you. Look, Hermione, do you know what it is? I don't think Draco's really comfortable with this.”

Draco was rigid; he was very obviously forcing himself to stay still, and the very end of his tail was twitching violently. Hermione ignored Harry as if he hadn't spoken at all, likely hiding behind all the courage and bravado she could muster.

“I think I know the spell they used. In any case, there are only a few spells that work on non-wizards.”

Harry noticed she was carefully avoiding using the words 'magical creature.' He thought Draco would probably take them rather badly, even if they were true.

“This may sting a bit, Malfoy.”

_ “I'm not afraid.” _

“ _**Creatura curationum!** _ ” A soft, blue light shot out of Hermione's wand, and straight into Draco's wound. It filled the wound with a lattice of blue light, and then filled in with flesh. It still looked tender, and was still obviously healing, but it looked much better.

“There. That should heal nicely.”

“Thank you, Hermione. I'll have to remember that one.”

“Just be careful, Harry. You're absolutely pants at healing magic.”

_ “Thank you, Weasley. Circe, I never thought I'd be saying that.” _

“Draco says thank you.”

Hermione managed a smile. “Don't break something, Malfoy.”

Draco snorted.  _ “And now, Weasley, if you don't mind, I'd like to make out with my boyfriend.” _

Harry blushed. “Ah. Draco says that we. I mean. He and I um. We're gonna -” Draco cut him off with a kiss, and Harry figured that Hermione would get the idea. He heard the crack of Apparition a moment later, and knew he'd get an earful the next time she saw him.

_ “Do you trust me?” _

“Yes.” Harry replied instantly.

_ “Hold on.” _ Draco gripped him tightly in his arms, and shifted to wrap a coil gently around his waist. Then he lowered both of them down into the pit. He nestled Harry carefully between loops of coils that didn't have anything digesting in them, and kissed Harry again, gently.

_ “I know it's not what you're used to. You can leave, if you want.” _

“No! No, it's – not what I was expecting but – honestly I don't know what I was expecting.”

_ “More cobwebs, maybe? Something more dank?” _ Draco sounded bitter.

“Mmm...not really. I was thinking more silk, and feathered bedspreads. And lots of green, maybe. And snakes. I kinda thought you might have snakes for pets?”

_ “Speciesist.” _

“Sorry. I don't know that much about nāga. There isn't much in the records about them, even at the Ministry.”

_ “ _ Nāga _ are a species of magical creature most commonly found in India,”  _ Draco informed him.  _ “I'm not a nāga. I'm a fucking monster.” _

“You're not a monster.”

_ “Shut  _ up! _ ”  _ Draco roared, flames bursting from his mouth to lick across the ceiling.  _ “When Voldemort cast a killing curse at you, your mother's love saved your life. My mother's love turned me into  _ this _!” _

Harry reached out and caught Draco's hand and didn't let go, even when one of Draco's nails scored across his palm. “I'm sorry. Draco, I'm so, so sorry.”

Draco exhaled sharply, and lowered himself to press his forehead against Harry's. He was very warm.  _ “I did it for you, you know. I betrayed my family for you. Maybe that's why her spells failed. She knew I'd betrayed them.” _

“No. No, Draco. Your mother loves you. I know, I know you don't want to talk about her, but I see her every week. We – we have Sunday tea together. She talks about you all the time. She never meant for this to happen, and neither did I.”

_ “But it did. And now I'm a – I don't know what I am. Something like a dragon, and something like a nāga, but mostly I'm just  _ hungry _. I hate it here. I'm so lonely, Harry.” _

“I'm sorry, Draco. I'm so sorry.”

He held Draco in his arms as best he could while Draco cried hot, bitter tears into Harry's chest.

** Quatuor **

The next time he went to visit Draco, he brought the wand he'd won from him so many years ago, when Draco had still been undercover in Malfoy Manor. That had been right near the end, when Voldemort had finally realized someone was spying on him, and turned on Draco in a rage. Narcissa's protections, combined with the house magic dedicated to protecting the Malfoy heir, had saved Draco's life, but the spell had twisted horribly, and turned Draco into what he was now. It had turned into an utter brawl, Draco wreaking vengeance in his new form, and Narcissa had slipped away to send an urgent Patronus to Harry, begging him to save her son.

The Order had stormed the Manor, and Voldemort had been vanquished, but there was nothing they could do for Draco. Much like Harry's scar, it was a magic that could not be undone, and Draco had fled into the rubble of the Manor, and refused to come out. They'd had a trial for him _in absentia_ , and Harry had fought tooth and nail to keep them from labeling him a traitor. He'd presented all the evidence they had of Draco being a spy for the Order, and he and Snape had grudgingly been given Orders of Merlin after the fact. Snape had fallen at the Manor at Draco's side, and knowing what he knew now about Snape and his mother only made Harry feel more terrible.

There was a great deal more argument about whether or not Draco should be allowed to remain at Malfoy Manor, who the property now belonged to, and most especially what they should do with Draco's wand. It was eventually decided that they would not try to rout Draco from his lair, but neither was he allowed to leave the grounds. Having his wand returned was still a legal matter pending before the court, and after all this time it was likely to remain in appeals for as long as Harry remained alive, after which it would be swept aside in a pile of political tape.

Before he'd even had the chance to present Draco with his wand, or the two recently shorn sheep he'd brought him, Draco slithered out from his usual hiding place and said,

_“There are Muggles in the dungeon.”_

Harry nearly dropped the leads on the two suddenly terrified animals. “There are _what?_ ”

Draco slithered nearer, inspecting the sheep closely. When fixed with Draco's stare they ceased their bleating and stood practically frozen. He turned to Harry and stroked one finger down Harry's cheek. He couldn't help it, he practically shuddered at Draco's touch. It had just been _so long._

_“I was out on the grounds, hoping to get some nice squid from the lake, or maybe a sturgeon or two -_ ”Draco scowled at Harry's expression, _“Surely you don't think I eat people_ all _of the time, do you?”_

That was exactly what Harry had thought.

_“Whatever. I was out hunting, minding my own business on my own damn property, when I found Muggles, fishing in my lake. Muggles! There are mermaids in my lake, Harry. Mermaids, and giant freshwater squid, and all manner of things Muggles shouldn't be allowed to see. And then of course they saw me, and that's when the screaming started.”_

“Why'd you put them in your dungeon?”

_“What the hell else am I going to do with them? I didn't have my wand, so I couldn't_ Obliviate _them, and Binky – well. Never let a house elf_ Obliviate _someone, Harry. They'll end up only remembering how to clean things.”_

“You should have called me.”

_“And I could have done that exactly how? None of the fireplaces are connected to the Floo network any more, and the owls are terrified of me. Not to mention I can't hold a damn quill with these fingernails. The house elves won't leave me, not even to carry a message. So I had them put the Muggles in the dungeon, and fixed it up nice; there's beds and a_ muffliato _and such so they can't see or hear anything outside the cell. But I've had them nearly a week; something has to be done about them.”_

“Well, you're right about that.”

_“Honestly, Harry. It's not as if I ate them.”_

“Well...I should...probably do something about them.”

_“You should. Let me have Binky put the sheep somewhere; I'll eat them later. Thank you for getting them sheared for me; wool tastes awful.”_

“Don't you have other house elves?”

Draco shrugged. _“There's a few others, but Binky's the only one who'll still come out when there's wizards around.”_

Apparently they hadn't take the occupation of the Manor very well. Harry couldn't blame them. He wasn't particularly enthusiastic about visiting the dungeons, himself. Once Binky had appeared and taken the sheep away, Draco's hand came up to rub soothingly against his back.

_“You don't have to come down into the dungeons. I can bring them up, if you'd rather.”_

Yes, because that's exactly what the needed; terrified Muggles running about the place. “No, I'll go down.”

_“Come along then.”_ Draco said, and started slithering away. He moved slowly, so Harry could keep up.

Going to the dungeons wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting. The entire manor looked different than before, and the sound of Draco slithering across the rock wasn't anything like the sound of Nagini as he'd been afraid it would be. Draco was just so much heavier. He didn't really sound like the basilisk either; his skin made a different sound against the ground. Harry couldn't really describe it.

“How do you keep track of it all?”

_“Pardon?”_

“Your tail is like fifty feet long. How do you keep track of it?”

Draco shrugged. _“Do you think about where you're putting your feet, or do you just walk?”_

“I just walk most of the time, I suppose.”

_“Exactly. Watch your step here, Harry, we're heading down now.”_

“Okay.”

The first thing Harry noticed was that the dungeon was surprisingly clean, and bright. There were lamps with faerie light every six feet, and any empty cell was scoured so clean that it actually gleamed. There were far less people down here than he was expecting; he only saw maybe five, ten people in cells. It was clear they couldn't see Harry or Draco from inside their cells, and there were no sounds coming out from within the cells. It – wasn't as bad as he was expecting it to be.

The Muggles were only a few cells in, and unlike the rest of the cells, the whole thing had been done up like a nice hotel room; carpeting, walled off bathroom, full sink, desk, two nice beds. It all seemed lost on the two Muggles, who were both sitting against the wall, their eyes wide. There were trays of food on the floor that looked wholly untouched.

Draco seemed annoyed. _“They haven't even eaten their food. Wasteful.”_

“They're probably scared, Draco.”

Draco just made an irritated noise. _“I want them out of my house.”_

“We'll take care of it. Do you want to _Obliviate_ them or should I? Oh, right, here, I brought this for you.”

He pulled out Draco's wand, along with a wrist holster that Draco could strap to his arm, since a waist holster would likely just get in the way. Ginny had help him pick it out, though he hadn't told her who he was getting it for. It was made of black leather, worked with silver fastenings and set with moonstones and pale sapphires. He'd had it tailored to fit Draco's wand and arm.

Draco's eyes grew wide. _“Harry...it's beautiful. Did you have help picking it out?”_

“Quiet, you, I could pick out nice things if I wanted.”

_“So you did have help.”_ Draco was grinning at him, trying as usual to hide his gratefulness behind other things. _“Put it on?”_

“Of course.”

Draco held out his left arm, and Harry strapped the holster to it, then slid Draco's wand down into it. “There. Can you get to that okay?”

Draco pulled the wand out slowly, and just stared at it in his hand. _“It feels...it's been a long time. Thank you, Harry. It makes me feel more human.”_

“You are human.”

“ _No, I'm not.”_

“You know what I mean.”

Normally Draco would have argued with him, but this time he just closed his eyes and gripped his wand tightly. _“I know what you mean.”_

“I suppose I'd better _Obliviate_ them. Actually...I should probably take them back to the Ministry.”

_“No. Then they'll send out a squad and there will be Obliviators all over the damn place. Can't you just do it?”_

“Yeah. How did they get on your property anyways?”

_“The wards only work on the house now. Everything on the grounds has gone completely wild.”_

“Huh. Well. First things first, I'll _Obliviate_ them and send them home. After that...mind if I stay a few days and at least help you get the Muggle repelling charms back up?”

Draco smiled. _“I'd like that very much.”_

**Quinctus**

The next time Harry Apparated to visited Draco, he had to Apparate to the edge of the grounds, and allow the wards to examine him before he could cross the border and Apparate to the Manor. At some point, Harry wanted to add exceptions to the wards so he could Apparate through them any time. That would be a great deal more work than the wards they'd already set up, so he'd have to take some time off work to actually take care of it. That might be nice actually...he'd get to spend more time with Draco. He didn't get away nearly as often as he'd like.

When he got there, Draco wansn't there, nor did he come out. Harry didn't bring him food this time; he brought him jewelery that he'd spelled himself instead. After a few minutes of nothing, he pulled out his wand and said, _**“Point me Draco Malfoy.”**_

He headed in the direction the wand pointed, and wandered across the grounds until he found himself at Malfoy Lake. Draco was sunning on the largest rock, head on his arms and smiling. The end of Draco's tail was stirring lazily in the water. Harry found himself staring at a huge lump a little way down Draco's stomach.

_“Squid.”_

“What?”

_“I caught a squid. It was delicious.”_

“How did you even fit that into your mouth?”

Draco shrugged. _“It fit because I wanted it to. It was very good, Harry. I like squid.”_

Harry smiled. “You seem like you're in a good mood.”

_“Mmm. The sun is warm,”_ Draco replied lazily. He looked like he was mostly asleep. _“And I haven't eaten any Dark wizards recently. I think evil disagrees with my digestive system.”_

Harry couldn't help but laugh at that. “Can I come up? You look comfortable up there.”

_“Sure.”_ Draco lowered his tail and grabbed Harry gently, then pulled him up onto the rock. It was very warm, and nice up there, with the sun filtering down through the trees. He settled himself so that he was laying against Draco's coils, his head against Draco's shoulders and back. It was very peaceful.

Harry hadn't even known he'd fallen asleep until Draco woke him with a kiss. “Hey.”

_“Hello. I'm going to touch you now.”_

“You're so _romantic –_ oh.”

Draco wasn't wasting any time at all; his hands had already found their way up underneath Harry's jumper; for once, not complaining about how Harry always wore Muggle clothes on his day off, and slid across the skin underneath. He didn't skitter away from Harry's scars, even the locket burn in the middle of his chest. Harry returned the favor. Draco didn't have a shirt to remove, but he had sexy, slim hips and muscled arms and a chest that Harry couldn't help licking.

_“Is this weird for you?”_ Draco asked, tugging at Harry's shirt off and nipping at Harry's collarbone.

“No?” Harry lifted his arms and let Draco slide his shirt off. “I guess maybe it should be? But I don't care. You feel good. You've even got some ass here, you know.”

_“Really?”_

“Yeah.” Harry groped him, sliding his hands down past Draco's hips and over his scales and to the bulge of muscle that seemed to be quite a bit like an ass. It even felt like Draco's ass when he was still human, though slimmer, of course since it was part of his tail.

_“You like it?”_

“Yeah. Oh Merlin Draco, it's been so long.”

_“I've missed you. And this. Fuck, Harry, I want to fuck you.”_ Draco's hands were in his pants now, and Harry could already tell that he wasn't going to last at all.

“I wish you could, too. Ah, fuck, it feels so good.”

_“Do you mind if I -”_ Draco licked his way down Harry's chest, and paused at the trail of hair going under his pants.

“Oh. Could you um. I mean is it going to be okay? I want – I want -”

_“I can retract my teeth. Just relax.”_

“Ah fuck.”

Draco made a deep sound in his throat that was like a dark chuckle, and pulled back his teeth, so they were no longer in danger of ripping apart Harry's bits. Then he shifted so he was lower, and took Harry in his mouth. Harry groaned, and realized once again that yeah, he was probably going to come in an embarrassing amount of time. But there was all this _suction_ now that Draco hadn't been able to do before and it was just – just -

After, Harry lay sprawled across Draco's coils while Draco licked the come off his stomach. That used to be something he'd been rather squeamish about, but he just couldn't bring himself to be disgusted about it any more. It was even a little sexy. His cock tried to stir at the thought, but it was too soon. Draco smirked at that, and wrapped some coils around him so he'd stay warm, and then situated himself so he was lying next to Harry.

Abruptly Harry realized he'd been incredibly rude. “I'm so sorry, Draco. Do you want me to?” He gestured vaguely in the air, not even really sure what he was offering, just that he wanted to make Draco feel as good as he felt in that moment.

Draco shrugged. _“I'm not even sure that I can. I haven't done a lot of experimentation into it; I haven't really wanted to, until now.”_

“I could still try.”

_“It's fine, Harry.”_

“Alright,” Harry dropped it, because he could tell that Draco really didn't want to talk to it. But he made a personal resolution to figure out what he could do to give Draco the same pleasure. There had to be something.

“Oh.” He said, again. “I got you something.”

_“I'd noticed you hadn't brought me any food.”_

“I thought you were happy with your squid.”

_“I am. But I like it when you bring me things.”_

“Well then.” Harry stretched out with his magic and summoned Draco's present, which he'd gotten wrapped in a nice box with ribbon and a gift tag with Draco's name embossed on it in a gold-gilt calligraphy. He'd noticed that Draco seemed to like shiny things even more than he had before his transformation.

_“Fancy wrapping, Harry. Did you take it to a shop?”_

“You know, one of these days I'm going to pick out something myself and then wrap it myself, and you'll feel bad.”

_“When that day comes, I think I may die of shock.”_

Harry elbowed him playfully in the ribs. “Shut up and open it already.”

_“Oh, Harry,”_ Draco exclaimed, as he unwrapped the package.

Inside was a silver bracelet of two slim, metal circles with a spiraling pattern of Celtic knot work between them, engraved and spelled with every kind of magical protection Harry could find, cross referenced with Hermione and the records of his own department to assure that none would conflict with Draco's creature nature. It was set in three places with more of the milky sapphires that adorned his wand holder, and each one had five night opals around it, forming a protective pentagram.

“I keyed the bracelet to me; it'll let me know if you're hurt or threatened, and if you want to send me a message or let me know you need to talk to me, you only have to send a small pulse of magic through one of the stones.”

_“Did you make this?”_ Draco sounded stunned.

“I commissioned the bracelet, picked out its design and the stones, but I spelled the protections myself. I want you safe, Draco. Not that I don't think you can take care of yourself, because you can, but I'm not always around and I want to be able to protect you, even if it's just with this.”

_“It's perfect, Harry.”_

Draco found the clasp that kept the bracelet together and opened it; it required a touch of magic from either Draco or himself to remove; he didn't want anyone who wished Draco harm to just be able to take it off. Then he put it on and closed it with a soft click. It looked beautiful on him, just as Harry hoped it would. Draco pressed a searing kiss to Harry's lips.

_“I love you, Harry Potter.”_

**Seni**

_“Move in with me.”_

“What?” Harry had just Apparated in, this time with a fattened calf for Draco. He felt a bit bad when he looked into the calf's eyes, but he knew it would make Draco happy, and he'd been complaining recently that he didn't even remember what beef tasted like. There were deer aplenty on Malfoy land, but currently no cattle. Harry had plans for the future; there was enough land for herds of goats, sheep, cattle. Draco wouldn't need to eat a Dark wizard ever again.

_“You're over here practically any time you're not working and I'm not sleeping. There's plenty of room, and Binky even likes you. You should move in with me. Unless – you don't want to?”_

“No! I do. I mean, that'd be brilliant. I just – logistics.”

_“Well...you should probably keep your own place, at first. In case you get tired of me. And it's not like I'm asking you to merge our vaults, or for you to give up Grimmauld Place. You've got Teddy and Great Aunt Andromeda there, right?”_

“Yeah. She hexed me when I told her she didn't need to redecorate the place.”

_“That sounds just like her. And if the Black home is anything like how I remember, it's in desperate need of a remodel.”_

“You're not wrong. Where would – where would I sleep? I love you but I don't know that I could do my job and sleep on gold every night.”

_“Well, actually, Binky's been making you up a room. I told her not to make too many choices; if you do move in I want you to decorate it the way you want. There's tunnels from my lair up to the room, if I want to come up and lay with you, or if you want me to. It's not perfect but. I'd be able to hear you breathing at night.”_

“When you say it like that, how could I refuse?”

Harry still didn't know how he was going to get all of his things over here; he'd managed to collect a surprising amount of stuff since the end of the war. He didn't know how he was going to like living in a castle where the Dark Lord had once made residence, and didn't know if the fact that the castle was now in ruins made it better or worse. He honestly didn't know how he was going to be okay with having house elves waiting on him. He'd gotten rather used to taking care of himself. And he didn't even want to think about what his friends, his boss, and the general public would have to say about Harry moving in with Draco. He was immensely glad he'd strengthened the wards.

Draco's bright grin made it all worth it.

After Draco had eaten, they were out on the lawn, Draco sunning himself and napping while Harry read a Muggle novel he'd been working on. Draco was the one who broke the silence by saying,

_“You could still go out with your friends and such, you know. Just because I can't go out doesn't mean you can't.”_

Harry tried to gauge his words, but couldn't tell if Draco was upset about that or not. He suspected that Draco was; he'd always liked going out and doing things, even if those things were usually extremely expensive and often made Harry uncomfortable. He'd liked dancing especially, and had even made progress teaching Harry how to dance, mostly by taking the lead until Harry worked out how to follow without tripping.

“You know, that may not actually be true. That you can't leave, I mean. I was chatting with the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in India the other day – I wanted to borrow a book from her that isn't available here in England – and she mentioned that what separates a nāga from a lamia is their ability to transform into a wholly human or wholly snake form, for a time.”

_ “What?” _

“Apparently born nāga can transform into human or snake form, for at least several hours, or sometimes several days if they're particularly skilled in magic.”

_ “Harry, do you know what that means?” _

“Yeah. You could go out in public if you wanted. I mean, you could go out in public like you are, too, if you wanted. I know you probably don't want to, and the Ministry would have an apoplexy, but I'm not ashamed of you, if that's what you think.”

_ “Harry, you are missing the entire point. I could have my  _ dick _ back.” _

“Oh. You know. That's – I hadn't even thought of that.”

Draco shook his head sadly.  _ “We've been apart for too long. Now. Where is that book? I want to start learning how to do this  _ immediately _.” _

The book suggested it sometimes took nāga up to three years to learn how to properly transform themselves. Draco figured it out in three months. The sex was absolutely  _ brilliant _ , proving once again that Harry never remembered how amazing something was until he hadn't had it for a while. Before, Draco had always topped, and their sex life had been mostly frantic fucks whenever they could manage to sneak away from their various sides of the war effort. But this time Draco was much more interested in being  _ versatile _ , and they made love for hours sometimes, and experimented with positions and different types of lube and Draco even started ordering toys, and on the whole Harry just felt a great more debauched than he ever had before. 

They were lying tangled up together in Harry's feather bed, with ridiculous green silk sheets that Draco claimed matched his eyes, when Draco leaned over and pressed a kiss to Harry's collarbone, his hand possessively across Harry's abdomen. He licked casually across Harry's neck, and Harry thought maybe they were going to go for another round, when he whispered in Harry's ear,

“How would you feel about having kids?”

Harry honestly didn't know what to say to that.

**Finis**

**Author's Note:**

> I tried very hard to use the correct spells, their punctuation, etc, to adhere to the lore of the original series as much as possible, while still having fun. If something is grossly out of order, let me know and I can fix it! 
> 
> I am very much American, so while I tried to avoid slang that wouldn't be British, I'm not really sure I captured British phrasing or slang either. If anyone *is* British and thinks there could be changes to better reflect the original novels, please let me know!!
> 
> This fic was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!


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